Price fixing rant / new Soundgarden album

OK. So i spotted that Soundgarden had released a new album (King Animal) while messing about on Youtube. Great, I think to myself - will pop over to amazon, try the previews and if i like them buy it.

So I accidentally end up on the US Amazon site, where the album is $3.99. Enter my details, go to purchase thinking that is an OK price. Sorry, album is not available in your geographical region. So i dutifully head over to Amazon UK. Rather shocked to discover it is £7.49 for the same mp3 album.

What the hell? With exchange rates that is well over DOUBLE the price. How the heck can they justify that? :surprised:

In a quandry now. I quite fancy legally owning the album but completely on refusenik mode on paying twice what others are by virtue of IP address.

Previously was sit on the fence regarding whole greedy music industry exploiting people thing. Now I just hate them.

(for the curious Youtube Soundgarden on Later with Jools arrogant-pretentious-to55er Holland.)

See local market economies. Applies to almost everything, not just music.

If you don't think it's worth what it costs in your area then just don't listen to it. They'll get less sales and will have to rethink the price in the future. Pirating it would likely make things worse as they'd be even less likely to release it for a good price in the region.

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Originally Posted by kalniel

See local market economies. Applies to almost everything, not just music.

If you don't think it's worth what it costs in your area then just don't listen to it. They'll get less sales and will have to rethink the price in the future. Pirating it would likely make things worse as they'd be even less likely to release it for a good price in the region.

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I think the bands hope they can make up for it now through concerts , exclusives etc

at one time £7 would of been pretty cheap for album ( I seem to recall paying round £10 , and that was for tapes ! )

I must admit I do miss cool videos , bit-nut if the music sucks ( as it has in general ) then I dont care as nearly all my groups are 80s or earlier .

m

Given that (unlike CDs, vinyl) I can't legally resell my mp3 albums off Amazon, they're also 'worth' less surely. In that way they're like Steam games. Never mind lower manufacturing / distribution costs and so on.

If they can make a profit at the equivalent of about £3 in the USA, I just feel like they're spitting in my face by charging well over twice that here. I could easily get the album 'elsewhere' illegally but want to do the right thing. Making me feel that the seller is an unscrupulous piece of £$%^ is not a good sales strategy for developing an ongoing legal music sales framework.

Not sure we'll get through this whole global price fluctuation for a long time yet.

The ONLY way to stop it is if everyone stops buying stuff in UK... but that won't happen.

Better to buy something from a competing publisher/label that's cheaper. That's the way to drive down prices.

Noticed some price fixing last night in Asda.

While doing the xmas food shopping, we were using the Android App to see what we are spending, its suprising how the price on the shelves was between 2p and 10p more expensive than the app, which is supposed to be real time pricing.

Robbed as usual.

I think that we as UK citizens have this issue over and over with many of our services. I have seen petrol 1p more expensive at sainsburys petrol stations within a 10m radius. Why? because the more expensively priced garage is next to a posh estate.

Its a sad state of affairs. I think the best way is to boycott it. Same with Amazon. Go elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by deejayburnout

I think that we as UK citizens have this issue over and over with many of our services. I have seen petrol 1p more expensive at sainsburys petrol stations within a 10m radius. Why? because the more expensively priced garage is next to a posh estate.

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That's the free market working exactly as it should be. It's a *good* thing if you think about it. The alternative systems proposed by governments who control these services 'for the good of the people' tend to be far worse in practise.

Surely if it were a free market I could buy it from Amazon USA?

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Originally Posted by wasabi

Surely if it were a free market I could buy it from Amazon USA?

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Touche :D

I meant a free market in respect of competitors, not a global free market - ie it should be free at the regional level - within the EU for example. For right or wrong there isn't a global free market (too many nations have too much self-interest I think).

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Originally Posted by Zak33

Not sure we'll get through this whole global price fluctuation for a long time yet.

The ONLY way to stop it is if everyone stops buying stuff in UK... but that won't happen.

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Well, thats where the pirating comes in

m

I never buy mp3s, prefer physical media for something to own.

Available for £7 for CD at http://www.screamingcd.com/product/S...imal/43282&c=1

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Originally Posted by melon

Well, thats where the pirating comes in

m

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Which only makes the problem worse, so you'd have to be pretty stupid to act to make things worse for yourself in the future.

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Originally Posted by kalniel

Which only makes the problem worse, so you'd have to be pretty stupid to act to make things worse for yourself in the future.

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many people these days dont see a future , they have no jobs - no hope and furthermore they see corruption everywhere ( esp by those who have money to start with )

Can you blame them ?

If they dont have jobs thanks to corporate greed, some might even argue its just case of karma .

Afterall they caused the problem , so why is it these people are still rich while the rest of us are being made to pay ?

The 1% shouldnt even exist on that basis alone given it is their law and greed , that has ultimately been trickled down and had a domino effect on just about everything.

You cant do that , then expect those same people youve been screwing to take the high ground, when the opportunity to screw them back exists.

People are angry, and rightly so.

m

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Originally Posted by Macadee

I never buy mp3s, prefer physical media for something to own.

Available for £7 for CD at http://www.screamingcd.com/product/S...imal/43282&c=1

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Thanks - not come across that company before. Slightly tempted, although it is still barmy. the only thing I'd do with a CD is rip it to mp3 then throw it in the shed along with all the other useless junk. Meanwhile the record company's sales figures will 'prove' that CDs are still more popular than mp3 and they'll continue to flog the dead horse. They're living in denial. The whole thing seems like a bad microcosm of what is wrong with the music industry.

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Originally Posted by wasabi

Thanks - not come across that company before. Slightly tempted, although it is still barmy. the only thing I'd do with a CD is rip it to mp3 then throw it in the shed along with all the other useless junk. Meanwhile the record company's sales figures will 'prove' that CDs are still more popular than mp3 and they'll continue to flog the dead horse. They're living in denial. The whole thing seems like a bad microcosm of what is wrong with the music industry.

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thats the keyword except Id use world instead of music..

Music executives having been screwing artists for years and taking big cuts - so its not like the artist saw much of that any way.

Really as much as I enjoyed MTV era , theres no turning back now...
Its shame artists are still going to be affected by pirates etc but thats as much a product of the bigger picture IMO than just the internet itself.

Also it raises an interesting question about how valuable entertainment is , when much more important issues like health are largely ignored and leaving people with longer lives but more with suffering instead.

m